Elbert County Raises Millage to Prepare for Economic Growth

By David Stephens, WSGC Radio, Elberton

In Elbert County a public hearing takes place tonight at 6p on the county’s plan to raise the millage rate.

Elbert County’s Board of Commissioners plans to raise the millage to help pay for the construction of a new spec building to attract new business.

The county is already making plans to grow its economic base to prepare for the eventual expansion of SR17 into a four-lane from Elbert County to I-20 in middle Georgia.

Recently, the Georgia State Board of Transportation voted to adopt Georgia’s official Freight Corridor Network.

Five of the included roads are in the northeast Georgia area, including SR17.

Elbert County Administrator Bob Thomas says this is encouraging news for the county, especially with the possibility of State Route 72 becoming a four lane highway in the near future.

“That would really work very well for Elbert County as far as economic prospects; I think we would get a lot more looks as it makes us more attractive for manufacturing”, said Thomas. “We would really welcome those two fourlanes as it would really help us.”

Thomas feels that if Elbert County were to have two four lane highways, that it would certainly even the playing field when attracting new businesses.

“We have been in a void being right next to the state line, and you have the Athens area growing because of the interstate”, explained Thomas. “If we can at least get two four lane highways through Elbert County, we feel it will level the playing field for us, and we are optimistic about getting those two roads four laned.”

Now that SR17 is included in the corridor, it is now exempted from Congressional Balancing, which limits the amount of funding for roads in each congressional district.